and knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

according as it is written in the law of the Lord - Every male that is a firstborn, Holy unto the Lord, shall be called,

For, whom he fore-approved, he also fore-appointed to be conformed unto the image of his Son, that he might be firstborn among many brethren, -

He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation.

He is also the head [the life-source and leader] of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will occupy the first place [He will stand supreme and be preeminent] in everything.

And again when he brings the firstborn into the world he says, And let all the agents of God worship him.

By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, like Esau, - who, for the sake of one meal, yielded up his own firstborn rights;

to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood;